Alumni News Archive

LSU Law News

August 2008

Based on the likely impact of Hurricane Gustav on the Louisiana coast, the LSU Campus, including the Law Center,
will also be closed on Wednesday, September 3. As a result, the Law Center
will be closed on Monday, September 1, Tuesday, September 2,
and Wednesday, September 3. All classes and related activities
are cancelled.

The Law Center will continue to monitor the storm and any
further messages from the Law Center will be announced through the LSU Law
Center telephone system – LSU-LAWC (578-5292), option #6, as well as by
broadcast e-mail message and posted on the LSU Law Center homepage – www.law.lsu.edu.
In the event that the Law
Center website is
unavailable for an extended period of time, all Hurricane-related announcements
will be posted at the following website – www.lsulaw.net

The LSU Law Center has announced a formal change in the name of the Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) degree, awarded to LSU Law graduates along with the Juris Doctor (J.D.) since 2001. The degree will now be awarded as the Juris Doctor (J.D.) Graduate Diploma in Civil Law (D.C.L.). The change will be effective with the graduating class in Spring 2009.

The name change is simply that ... a change in name only. "The joint degree remains as rigorous as ever, and no changes have been made to the substance of the course work required for the D.C.L.," said Chancellor Jack Weiss.

Why the name change? The accreditation principles of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), a higher education accrediting agency, requires the change because a bachelor's degree is not appropriate for the type of course work taken by LSU Law students. The Law Center is currently engaged in a renewal of its accreditation through SACS.

The Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors has sworn in a new chairman.

James Parkerson Roy, Sr., a Lafayette attorney, succeeded Jerry Shea Jr. of New Iberia as chairman of the 16-member board during the board's August meeting in Baton Rouge.

Appointed to Board in January 2005, Roy was elected Chairman-elect last year, putting him in line to automatically become chairman.

During his tenure on the Board, Roy, 56, has served on the board's Executive Committee, the Flagship Agenda Committee, and the Audit Committee. In addition, he has been Chairman of the Finance and Infrastructure Committee and Vice-Chairman of the Athletic Committee.

Extensively involved in LSU-related activities for many years, Roy has served as Annual Fund Chairman for LSU's Paul M. Hebert Law Center...

Professors from France, Italy and Germany will visit the LSU Law Center this fall to lend an international perspective to the students on topics ranging from World Trade Organization Law and Organization to the Regulation of State Subsidy in European Union Law.

Not exactly leisure classes to be sure.

Professors Jean-Yves Cherot, from the Universite Paul Cezanne Aix-Marseille 3 in France; Sylvia Ferreri, from the University of Turin in Italy; and Werner Meng, from the University of the Saarland in Germany; will each teach a course in their respective areas of interest while they are at the Law Center.

Cherot is a professor of law at Aix-Marseille 3 and director of the Laboratory of Theory of Law. His areas of research and teaching include legal theory and European Union Law. He has published more than 50 legal papers and is a member of the academic board of the Journal of International Economic Law.

Ferreri began her teaching career as a young researcher at the Bocconi University in Milan...

LSU Law Professor Lucy McGough, Vinson & Elkins Professor of Law, was recently nominated by Sen. David Vitter as a 2008 Angel in Adoption for her advocacy of foster care and adoption. The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, or CCAI, which orchestrates the Angels in Adoption program, will honor McGough, along with more than 180 Angels, at an awards ceremony and gala event in Washington, DC, Sept.16.

McGough has worked in foster care and adoption for more than 40 years, first as a social worker in Atlanta, then as a lawyer and law professor at Emory University and now LSU. In the 1970s, she worked with the Georgia Attorney General's Office on a special project to free long-term foster care children for adoption.

Since moving to Louisiana, she has continued to teach family law and juvenile law, and chair the Children's Code Advisory Committee to the Louisiana State Law Institute. Nearly every legislative session, McGough and other adoption advocates have brought...

The LSU Law Center's LL.M., or Master of Laws, program could be confused for a miniature United Nations. To say there is diversity among the eight students enrolled this year would be an understatement considering they come from Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ethiopia, France,...

A year ago, LSU Law Center Chancellor Jack Weiss remarked to the gathered assembly of students, dignitaries and community partners, "the Clinical Legal Education program was only a gleam in the Law Center's collective eye." On Friday, August 22, it became a reality as 26 student participants were sworn in by Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Catherine "Kitty" Kimball.

Those students, rising third-years, will represent actual clients from the community in a variety of areas including juvenile cases, domestic violence, and family mediation. The program also offers externship opportunities to the students, giving them the chance to work with various state agencies, judges, practicing attorneys, legal divisions of hospitals, and other offices.

"It's an exciting day for LSU ... it's an exciting day for the Baton Rouge community," said Robert Lancaster, director of the Clinical Legal Education Program and professor of professional practice, to the group of students. "This is what you've been...

Chancellor Jack Weiss and the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center
announce Frank X. Neuner, Jr. as the recipient of the 2008 Distinguished
Alumnus Award. An award ceremony for Neuner will take place in New Orleans on the evening of October 30,
2008. Seating for the event is limited, with advance registration required.

This award is given annually
to an LSU Law graduate who exemplifies the highest quality and ethical
standards of the legal profession. The
award recognizes personal and professional achievements and loyalty to the LSU Law
Center.

Frank Neuner is a 1976 graduate of the LSU Law
Center. He is a managing partner of LaBorde &
Neuner of Lafayette,
where he...

This fall's incoming class is not only a slightly larger group, but a more diverse one as well. The Class of 2011 numbers 211, up 10 students from last year. In addition, 16 percent of the class is either African American, Asian American, American Indian, or Hispanic/Latino—an increase of 6 percent from last year.

The majority of the first-year class is male (120 men to 91 women) and from Louisiana (159 residents to 52 nonresidents). Also, 20 states and one foreign country are represented, as well as 68 colleges and universities.

Then there are other facts and figures, which don't necessarily fit established categories, yet still reflect on the makeup of the incoming class. For instance, seven students finished their undergraduate work with perfect grade point averages. Thirty-two graduated summa cum laude and 14 earned advanced degrees. Eighteen students were varsity athletes and one is a professional golfer. Several still, have experience working on political campaigns....

For three days, rising third-year law students found themselves and their classmates under the microscope, as they practiced their trial advocacy skills with the help of lawyers, judges, and law professors from around the country. By the end of the third day, not only had the near 200 students completed the LSU Law Center's Trial Ad Program, they also gained confidence in their own skills as future lawyers.

"For me, the program epitomized what I thought law school was like when I started as a first-year student and it reaffirmed my desire to be an attorney," said Rebecca Bayless, a student at the LSU Law Center. "We learned how important facial expressions, voice modulation, and body language were in addition to the words we were speaking. I was honored to have Hon. Laurie White as one of my team leaders and she was really great at providing useful techniques for the aspiring female attorneys in our group such as ‘speak like you have grit in your belly and not like you're nice...

Twenty-six students will be sworn in as participants of the LSU Law Center’s newly expanded Clinical Legal Education Program on Friday, August 22, at 11:30 a.m. The ceremony will be held in the David Robinson Courtroom on the second floor of the Law Center.

As part of the program, students will have the opportunity to work with area lawyers and judges, as well as actual clients, gaining real-world law experience.

“This new program has a tremendous dual effect on the legal profession,” Kimball said. “It will give the clinic students a unique opportunity during their legal education to participate in actual court experiences. The program will also provide competent and needed additional representation to clients in an overworked but vitally important juvenile court.”

LSU Law students will have a chance to practice their trial advocacy skills during a unique program involving mentors from throughout the nation. From cross-examination to voir dire jury selection, third-year students will role play and receive their critiques from some of the nation's leading experts in courtroom practices.

The annual Trial Advocacy program will be held August 11-13, at the LSU Law Center. Nearly 200 third-year students will participate in the program, which involves three days of intensive "learning by doing." Participants will act as trial counsel and simulate actual trial skills under the experienced eyes of the select seminar faculty. The program follows the methods pioneered by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and includes role playing, critique, videotaping of performances, videotape critique, lectures and demonstrations by the faculty.

Legal professionals from around the country will serve as team leaders and faculty for the program.